


Treasure

by steve_rogers



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, super fluffy ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 05:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steve_rogers/pseuds/steve_rogers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony didn’t know when it started.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treasure

Tony didn’t know when it started. Sometime after New York, after he became an Avenger, he came to be unconditionally dependent on other people to keep him healthy, happy, and alive. It was a frightening thing to admit to oneself, but once, in the early hours of a snowy morning, when his eyelids were drooping and his breath was slowing and he was surpassingly exhausted, he did just that.

There was no one to go to. There was no one to comfort him. As he ran through his options – which, at that time, were either Pepper or one of his fellow teammates (none an acceptable choice) – he discerned that it was not the first night he could not sleep. Nor was it the second, or the third, or the fourth. The cause was irrelevant; he was either too nervous, too insomnious, or too afraid to fall asleep, and all possible sources of this problem led to the same painful result.

It was a terrible weakness, something that genuinely made his heart ache. It wasn’t something that someone like him should have to deal with. He was a superhero. He was an engineer, an entrepreneur, a futurist, a role model. But staring off into the distance, his fingers lightly brushing the electromagnet fixated in his chest, he thought about how behind all those titles, he was just a man.

Tony didn’t know when it started. It must have been quite some time ago, because these thoughts were not foreign in his mind, they were fresh and familiar, and all felt like sharp stabs. The ease with which they came was terrorizing.

He sat up in his bed, rocking back and forth, tugging at his hair. Somehow tears were streaming down his cheeks, some slow, some eager to fall onto the mattress beneath him. He did his best to keep the sounds to himself, but his throat was burning, and he had to open his mouth so he wouldn’t choke. Mumbling to himself, he willed the pain to go away.

There was a knock on his door then, which he ignored, unsure if he was dreaming at first. But a few seconds later, as his mouth reopened and a sharp, strangled sound fled it, again came the knock, and he looked up to the door, desperation clear in his bloodshot eyes.

He was not sure what to expect, but it was the soldier who appeared in the doorway with a heartbreaking, tender expression and a worried line between his brows. The Captain, the Man with a Plan, of all, arrived when needed. He whispered Tony’s name, and got another asphyxiated sob and more tears in response.

The line deepened, his look softened even more, and before there was time to speak, he had Tony in his arms. He let the man cry into his shoulder, gently stroking his hair and murmuring things to him. With every tremble of Tony’s body he pulled him nearer, pressed him closer, promising safety and warmth and company, which Tony gladly accepted.

When he awoke, the soldier was gone.

Tony didn’t know when it started. It went on for a while, though. He would not sleep unless he was in Steve’s hold. When he was, he would get at least a few hours of serenity, and then in the morning he would be alone again. They never spoke of this throughout the day, and seemed to proceed with their lives as they were.

The situation was not changing. It was not improving. Tony was still as vulnerable as ever, only now that burden was placed on one person and not an entire team of heroes. But if Steve had any reluctance, he never voiced it, and never let it get to him. Because every night, without fail, he clung to Tony, as if he understood exactly what he was going through, and every morning he was absent.

One of these nights Tony roused with some turbulence, a sort of determination set in his mind. It was bizarre to begin with, as he never woke up at night, as long as Steve was there. And he was; his large arm encircled Tony’s waist, his breathing light and pleasant in the quiet atmosphere.

And yet Tony was up, knowing he needed to do something before this one treasure in his life was gone. Softly he shook Steve, breathing his name a few times as his eyelids fluttered open. When he was certain that the soldier was awake, he asked him to promise not to leave in the morning.

Steve replied with a kiss. He kept the promise that morning, and the next, and the next, for a very long time.

Tony didn’t know when it started. Eventually, he stopped caring.


End file.
